Strong thunderstorms and heavy rain accompanied by brisk wind gusts forecast for Saturday afternoon continue to threaten the Krewe of Endymion’s plans to roll past thousands of fans expected to pack sidewalks and neutral grounds along Orleans and Carrollton avenues and Canal Street.

View full sizeJohn McCusker, The Times-PicayuneNickole Hojnowski, center, and Erin Delny, second from right, visit with friends while camping on a piece of neutral ground on Orleans Avenue on Friday.

Endymion spokesman Darryl D’Aquin said the Mardi Gras krewe would announce by 9 tonight whether it would stick to its planned 4:15 p.m. Saturday start for the huge parade that usually attracts more than a million viewers along its Mid-City route.

Plans for Tucks and Iris to wend through Uptown neighborhoods and for Nomtoc to parade in Algiers Saturday morning remained on track late tonight, as parade organizations hoped that patches of sun, or at least lighter rainfall, will grace their marches.

“To be quite honest, looking at the weathercast, it looks like it’s going to be OK,” Captain Bobby Reichert of Tucks’ 12:15 p.m. Saturday kick-off.

If a washout occurs, Tucks will reschedule behind other parades on either Sunday or Monday, but without marching bands, Reichert said.

Krewe officials with Nomtoc, scheduled to roll in Algiers at 10:45 a.m., and Iris, which rolls at 11 a.m., said they also expect the rain to spare their floats Saturday morning.

In Metairie, the Krewe of Isis announced Thursday that it was moving its parade from Saturday to Sunday evening. It will follow the Corps de Napoleon parade, which will start at 5:30 p.m. along the regular Veterans Memorial Boulevard route.

The worst of Saturday’s weather will occur from noon to 6 p.m., as thunderstorms - some severe - form over the area in advance of a strong cold front, said Shawn O’Neil, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Slidell office. Temperatures will reach the mid-70s this afternoon.

“The biggest threat will be from straight-line wind gusts and lightning,” O’Neil said, with gusts of 60 to 70 mph possible in the most severe thunderstorms, and winds of 40 to 50 possible in the smaller storms.

The heaviest rainfall should disappear as the cold front passes through New Orleans Saturday night, with skies clearing overnight and temperatures dropping to around 50 .

Sunny skies will dominate on Sunday and Lundi Gras, accompanied by temperatures in the 60s, while partly cloudy skies return on Mardi Gras as the thermometer climbs to the mid-70s. While there’s a 20 percent chance of scattered showers on Tuesday, any rainfall is likely to occur in the afternoon or evening.

Another cold front will trigger more rainfall on Wednesday night and Thursday, O’Neil said.